I have grown to have a passion for being set apart daily with my words and attitude and actions and overall personality. I no longer am satisfied with simply asking people how their day is and leaving them to go on without my encouragement....I am also no longer satisfied with complaining when there is something to complain about just because there is.....I also am not satisfied with laughing at things that are not pleasing to God or doing things that are not pleasing to Him either. My friend Doug has challenged me recently to not say anythign if it is not meant for edification to others. I really want to apply that to my life and to not simply live for myself and make things about me. I want to turn all my conversations to the eternal not the physical. I love the fact that I have such a great group of fellow believers who are there to help encourage me to pursue Jesus with my thoughts and words and actions. I have been struggling with a lot of different things mentally and God has given me victory over those through my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel that if it weren't for these great friends, I would not have grown at all in the Lord since I got here. I am praying that God will continue to work in each of our hearts and that He will set each of us aside from the world so that we stand out in everything....I really want people to beg the question, "what is different about you?" and really find out that I have been totally redeemed of my former life with sin.
Many times I’ve sat on the front pew just prior to the sermon time looking at the steps to the pulpit. In these moments each Sunday morning I’m reminded of the great task with which I have been entrusted and my own weakness to perform it. After hours of painstaking study and prayerful preparation, I still stare at those steps and feel under qualified, knowing I’ve only scratched the surface of the message. There is a certain holy trembling a preacher feels before climbing those steps to proclaim God’s eternal Word. In centuries past, preachers like Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones had to climb winding staircases to reach the “sacred desk”, but many pulpits today are just a few steps above the floor. Whether you have many steps or none at all, it is an other-worldly task we have been given. The following are a few practical steps preachers can take before climbing the real ones on Sunday morning... 1. Get in the Word We must immerse ourselves in the text at the outset o
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